Decrease of a Designated Consultation Level for Certain Cotton and Man-Made Fiber Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Mexico

COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

Decrease of a Designated Consultation Level for Certain Cotton

and Man-Made Fiber Textile Products Produced or Manufactured in Mexico

December 16, 1998.

AGENCY: Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA).

ACTION: Issuing a directive to the Commissioner of Customs decreasing a

designated consultation level.

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EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Naomi Freeman, International Trade

Specialist, Office of Textiles and Apparel, U.S. Department of

Commerce, (202) 482-4212. For information on the quota status of this

level, refer to the Quota Status Reports posted on the bulletin boards

of each Customs port, call (202) 927-5850, or refer to the U.S. Customs

website at http://www.customs.ustreas.gov. For information on embargoes

and quota re-openings, call (202) 482-3715.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority: Section 204 of the Agricultural Act of 1956, as

amended (7 U.S.C. 1854); Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as

amended.

The 1999 designated consultation level for Categories 338/339/638/

639 is being decreased to account for the increase applied to the 1998

level.

The level does not apply to NAFTA (North American Free Trade

Agreement) originating goods, as defined in Annex 300-B, Chapter 4 and

Annex 401 of the agreement. In addition, this consultation level does

not apply to textile and apparel goods that are assembled in Mexico

from fabrics wholly formed and cut in the United States and exported

from and re-imported into the United States under U.S. tariff item

9802.00.90.

A description of the textile and apparel categories in terms of HTS

numbers is available in the CORRELATION: Textile and Apparel Categories

with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (see Federal

Register notice 62 FR 66057, published on December 17, 1997).

Information regarding the 1999 CORRELATION will be published in the

Federal Register at a later date. Also see 63 FR 53880, published on

October 7, 1998.

Troy H. Cribb,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements

December 16, 1998.

Commissioner of Customs,

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC 20229.

Dear Commissioner: This directive amends, but does not cancel,

the directive issued to you on September 30, 1998 by the Chairman,

Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements. That

directive concerns imports of certain cotton, wool and man-made

fiber textile products, produced or manufactured in Mexico and

exported during the period which begins on January 1, 1999 and

extends through December 31, 1999. The levels established in that

directive do not apply to NAFTA (North American Free Trade

Agreement) originating goods, as defined in Annex 300-B, Chapter 4

and Annex 401 of NAFTA or to goods assembled in Mexico from fabrics

wholly formed and cut in the United States and exported from and re-

imported into the United States under U.S. tariff item 9802.00.90.

Effective on January 1, 1999, you are directed to decrease the

1999 designated consultation level for Categories 338/339/638/639 to

578,500 dozen, pursuant to exchange of letters dated December 5,

1997 and provisions of the NAFTA (North American Free Trade

Agreement).

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has

determined that this action falls within the foreign affairs

exception of the rulemaking provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1).

Sincerely,

Troy H. Cribb,

Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

[FR Doc. 98-33925 Filed 12-22-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DR-F